Look what I found today!

[hank123]

Looks like a Paraclipse 12" Looks like it is sitting on a large metal mount.
Pretty sure I can score this for little or nothing.
Biggest issue is the mesh is beat to death.
Where/what can I use to remesh and what would be the cost.

What else should I look at in terms of condition?

 

[Titanium]

In my opinion, one of the most iconic and well constructed C-band dishes. Likely to outlast roaches! Many of us previous owners are in love with the look, but not so much with the performance. Decent C-band, but the KU band has significant side lobes.

The hundreds of clips securing the mesh will drive you crazy. Learn from my mistakes... Always wear gloves when removing installing the clips! The aluminum mesh can be sourced from a local sheet metal supplier, but it will cost a pretty penny to resurface. It will be pretty when it is restored, but you probably would be better of with one of the other finds in your area.

 

[hank123]

What about running it just purely for C band?
I may be able to Source a good 10 foot but it seems everything I've been finding recently is 8 foot.

I made a call to see what the cost would be 114 square feet of quarter inch steel mesh.

You have been right before titanium

 

[richyrich]

I have used one person holding a block; and another on the other side; to pound dents. And bending the holes back to even with the tears. This takes most of the reflectors missing signal back to the proper gains needed today. So, it will perform the " level " it needs to get itself back to performances. Then tie the broken mesh holes with metal twine or wire. And re-peak it; as well as put in the newest electrons available. 12 foot dises track so perfectly it makes an easy button; worth about 4k today. By the way, it reminds me of how somebody puts the mesh in backwards; the mesh still works; but not as good as if it is put in forwardly (some manufacturers got mad at me once for saying this though also). Even warped out of this world dishes work (they have one in Disney's theme park in LA builtinto a ride that gets wet every day) they just need to be offset correctly; actually (my fair dish ran for 10 years warped)...then came directv...

 

[turbosat]

Hank I have some mesh panels that came off a black dish, but if you want to send me the measurements I would check against the size of what I have. Never had a P-clypse dish so I'm not sure how they fasten. If you get the dish and want to re-build it , let me know. I won't try to rob you over it, but the shipping might be steep from AL. I've sent some out before, rolled into a big tube.

 

[FTA4PA]

That's definitely seen better days but if I had the opportunity to get a 12' dish I would not pass it by. You may be able to salvage the mesh by removing it and rolling it with a pipe to flatten it. Dents in the mesh can be pounded flat with a small hammer and a couple blocks of wood. The tears can be stitched together (or patched if some mesh is missing). It will be a lot of work but considering the cost of a new dish that size I think it's definitely worth trying to rehabilitate it. You will get a great sense of pride knowing that you did it yourself and saved a dish from the scrap yard. Here is a thread I posted for an 8' dish that I got from a neighbor and recently restored. I highly recommend the OOK galvanized steel wire for stitching mesh. http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/posts/3864322/

 

[wvman]

Looks like a Paraclipse 12" Looks like it is sitting on a large metal mount.
Pretty sure I can score this for little or nothing.
Biggest issue is the mesh is beat to death.
Where/what can I use to remesh and what would be the cost.

What else should I look at in terms of condition?
View attachment 119636 View attachment 119637 View attachment 119638

Since it has all that xtra cross-ribbing, I'd consider perforated panels. I don't remember the measurements for the panels, but if you watch how you cut the wedges, you should easily get two wedges per sheet and it would be stronger and less likely to hail dimple and you should be able to get it with 1/16 inch holes. The perforates panels could be fastened down along the ribs with washer head screws. The rest could be pulled down with some stiff copper wire like what's inside an alternator rotor.

You might check the local scrap yards to see what's available. Scrap's going pretty cheap these days. I picked up ten 21 foot sticks of 3 inch carbon steel gas line a couple weeks ago for $15 a stick. It sells for over $150 a stick new. Had only one bent piece.

 

[hank123]

Thanks for the great ideas guys.
Ill need a bit more then 13 square feet to cover. Trying to find a source that has large sheets could be a problem
It looks like it has Galvanized Steel Stucco Netting on it now. The holes are large.

And no way I would want to stitch and hammer out the dings. It is trashed mesh. It would have to be replaced. It has J hooks holding down the mesh.
From some of the stuff I have been reading its something like 500-800 of them. If some are missing it will take some time to make them.
This also looks like one of the first models. It has to be pushing 30 years old.

 

[Christopher Cromwell]

T

 

[Titanium]

It appears to be the original mesh. If so, it is aluminum.

Does it have a declination adjustment? The photos do not show. I seen to recall that the earliest versions did not.

Make sure that you carefully save the nylon/poly sleeve insert in the AZ tube. Without this insert, the dish will have significant slop.

Check the widest panel measurement length or height. Maybe instead of buying sheets, purchase the appropriate width from a roll by the foot. Lable and remove teh current panels and use as templates for the new material cuts. I agree that it would be much easier to use tapper aluminum screws to attach the mesh to the supports. The clips would take a crew of two or three several hours and dozens of cuss words to install.

 

[hank123]

It appears to be the original mesh. If so, it is aluminum.

Does it have a declination adjustment? The photos do not show. I seen to recall that the earliest versions did not.

Make sure that you carefully save the nylon/poly sleeve insert in the AZ tube. Without this insert, the dish will have significant slop.

Where would the declination adjustment be?

I would not break down the dish at all. Move it in 1 piece. Its only 10 miles from my house.

 

[Titanium]

Page 15 on the assembly manual shows the adjustment of the declination.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/posts/3486447/

 

[Radioguy41]

Page 12 has a good photo of the declination assembly. I think Brian's right, I don't see it in the photos. Was this a fixed satellite system? I don't see a dish mover either and I believe, without the counterweight, they had H-H motors.

 

[Titanium]

My Paraclipse had a linear actuator without a counterweight. I don't recall seeing any counterweight versions here on the West Coast.

If the unit does not have the declination adjustment, the top bracket hole could be elongated into a slot to allow for adjustment. Suppose it could also be permanently modified (tab cut and welded or new hole drilled) to the calculated offset angle.

 

[Radioguy41]

Yeah, my bad, it's the 16' that has the counterweight.

 

[waylew]

Here's a pic of the back of mine,you can see the adjustment and the adjuster I made to keep it from slipping;
http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/posts/3466983/

 

[hank123]

Here's a pic of the back of mine,you can see the adjustment and the adjuster I made to keep it from slipping;
http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/posts/3466983/

Thank you for posing this. I will have to take a look again in the next week. Loads more more and I am just some FNG to this FTA stuff.

I hate to pump, Titanium's ego as some would say, I think I can hunt down a 10 footer that would take less work and perform better.
No matter what I know where it is, I dont think shes going anywhere if I did want to snag her one day.

 

[armadillo_115]

I think I can hunt down a 10 footer that would take less work and perform better.

Hank, I recall quite a few Craigslist dishes from Colorado the last few months.Shouldn't be too hard to find you one out there.

 

[phlatwound]

Hank, I recall quite a few Craigslist dishes from Colorado the last few months.Shouldn't be too hard to find you one out there.

Yes, and there seems to be a lot of them in that area on AJAK H-H mounts also.

I think AJAKs were manufactured in Colorado, or somewhere out west.

 

[danristheman]

here is a switch for you hank. hypermegasat.com